The West Chester Lady rams Soccer Team (3-3) bounced back from their slow start and have capitalized this week with two impressive victories. The first victory was against Lockhaven University with a score of 1-0, while the other victory came against Bloomsburg University with a score of 2-1. The Golden Rams, unsure of where they stood in the PSAC, sent a message loud and clear to their opponents with wins over both Lock Haven and Bloomsburg.
After a much needed win earlier in the week, West Chester welcomed in Bloomsburg (3-4) for an afternoon match down on South Campus. This match would test the young team’s ability to come back from being down and see what they were made of. The Huskies started off the scoring with a goal in the 20 minute by Jenna Fisher, forcing the Lady Rams to play catch up. With no scoring for the rest of the first half, West Chester was in serious jeopardy of dropping yet another close match. Fortunately for the Lady Rams, the second half would be dominated by them with two key goals. The first coming in the 50 minute by Junior Dana Hunt and the later in the 70 minute by Sarah Wulk. Not only did the ladies of West Chester outscore Bloomsburg but also outshot them by a staggering 15-8 count. Madi Mitchell recorded her second career win, stopping 3 of 4 shots that came her way. Another bright spot for the Golden Rams was Junior Carly Yost, who has continued to play well after being such a key contributor to the team last season. She was able to tally 4 of West Chester’s 15 shots with 2 on goal and an assist to go along with an overall solid game.
Before hosting the Huskies, the Lady Rams were tested on the road against a scuffling Lock Haven (1-3-1) team who was also in desperate need of a victory. This game displayed West Chester’s dominance as both their forwards and midfield controlled possession for a huge chunk of the match. Tallying West Chester’s only goal, sophomore defender Rachael Jackson, headed in the goal in the 5 minute of play. That would be Jackson’s first career collegiate goal but one that the Lady Rams urgently needed to avoid another defeat. On the defense side of the ball, freshmen goaltender, Maddi Mitchell, not only picked up her first win as goaltender but also her first career shutdown making it a special one. Eagles goaltender, Dana Wozniak, also played her heart out stopping 13 of 14 Golden Ram shots but still came up a little short.
This past week proved critical for West Chester to get back to the .500 mark but their job is far from over as the Lady Rams still have more than half their games remaining. Coming up this week, the team will not have the luxury of a home game on the schedule so staying fresh while traveling will be crucial. First, West Chester will head out Tuesday, September 24th to face the Warriors of East Stroudsburg (5-0) for a 4 p.m. match. With their undefeated record still in tack, this will give the Lady Rams extra incentive to tackle the class of the PSAC. After such a tough game, the ladies will have no time to lose their focus as the following Saturday, they will be heading down to Philadelphia University (0-3) for a noon start time. Stay tuned and make sure to keep up with how the ladies fair this week as they climb higher in the PSAC standings. This week will definitely give us vital information on how far the ladies could go in the playoffs.
Taylor Maren is a fourth-year student majoring in communication studies. He can be reached at TM 741168@wcupa.edu
Fri. Jul 26th, 2024
